Good News! NJ Now Safe State For Trans Refugees! Bad News: Idaho Creating Many Trans Refugees

Families of trans kids, your Idaho isn't private anymore.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little yesterday signed into law House Bill 71, banning all gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. That makes Idaho the 10th state in the US to ban such care. Doctors who provide gender-affirming care could face up to 10 years in prison for providing care that is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and most other medical professional groups. Rightwing Idaho lawmakers are quite certain that they know better than trans kids, their parents, and medical professionals what's good for them.

In a statement to lawmakers, Little attempted to frame the ban as a very moderate, thoughtful compromise, writing

“I recognize our society plays a role in protecting minors from surgeries or treatments that can irreversibly damage their healthy bodies. [...] However, as policymakers we should take great caution whenever we consider allowing the government to interfere with loving parents and their decisions about what is best for their children.”

You can ignore that last sentence about being cautious, unless perhaps Little was congratulating himself and the state Lege for not trying again to pass the 2022 version of the bill, which would have imposed life sentences on medical staff who provided such care,and for parentswho authorized it.

You can see in the bill text that the first version kept that life sentence, so how's that for a break for doctors, huh?

The 2022 bill would also have penalized parents who sought gender-affirming care for their kids outside Idaho, while the new law doesn't mention it. No doubt that's on the way in a future session.

As with similar laws in other states, HB 71 prohibits the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments. It also prohibits gender-affirming surgery for patients under the age of 18, although even the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Bruce Skaug (R), acknowledged during hearings that there's no evidence that any Idaho doctors or clinics provide such surgery in the first place.

Not surprisingly, as the Idaho Statesman reports, the state Lege brushed aside testimony from trans youth and their families, who said that gender-affirming medical care was life-saving:

Eve Devitt, a 17-year-old transgender girl, in February told a House committee that taking estrogen for the last three years improved her mental health, and that hormone therapy helped save her life.

“I’ve been able to get myself off a cliff that I wasn’t sure if I would ever find myself off of,” Devitt said. “I feel so much better and more complete with myself.”

Presumably, Devitt will still be able to get hormone treatments outside Idaho, so we suppose the Lege will somewhere down the line find a way to ban that, too, to "protect" her and other trans kids. OK, ACLU and Human Rights Campaign, bring on the federal lawsuits!

Fortunately, as more states pass anti-LGBTQ+ laws, other states are pushing back via "safe haven" laws or executive orders, which is wonderful but also gets me a little weepy because Jesus Christ on a solar electric scooter, how the hell is that even necessary in America? New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order Monday to make the state safe for people from states where gender-affirming care is banned or restricted.

The order, Murphy's office announced, directs

all state departments and agencies to protect all persons, including health care professionals and patients, against potential repercussions resulting from providing, receiving, assisting in providing or receiving, seeking, or traveling to New Jersey to obtain gender-affirming health care services.

In a statement, Murphy condemned the "attacks led by certain states that seek to undermine the equality, dignity, and safety of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially transgender and non-binary youth,” and he pledged that New Jersey will "support every person’s right to live freely and authentically by making our state a safe haven for those seeking or providing gender-affirming health care.”

The executive order forbids the extradition of any person in the state, whether they're a New Jersey resident or from elsewhere, to any other state for "providing, receiving, or otherwise facilitating gender-affirming health care service" that's legal in New Jersey. It also forbids state agencies from cooperating with other states' criminal or civil investigations aimed at punishing providers or recipients of gender-affirming care.

And damn right the EO brags, in the throat-clearing "whereas" statements, on New Jersey for being one of the first states to ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ folks.

Republican state legislators in New Jersey have tried to jump on the trans-panic bandwagon, filing six bills that would target LGBTQ+ rights, including a ban on gender affirming care, but both houses of the state Legislature have Democratic majorities, and Murphy would also say — what's that charming New Jersey phrase? — " Do not remember it!" 

[ Idaho HB 71 / Idaho Statesman / New Jersey Governor's office / Executive order 326 / Yahoo News / Idaho and New Jersey flag/outlines by "Darwinek," Creative Commons License 3.0 ]

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